Sandias Hydrogen-based Analyzer

Sandia s design thermally actuates an exothermic reaction of metal hydride with water to generate the hydrogen on board the microsystem. The pressure created by this reaction and the low viscosity of the hydrogen enable the high flow rate of the mobile phase, which, in turn, enables the desired 2 -second chromatographic separation. 

Simonson et al. are also pursuing an integrated, monolithic unit (Fig. 9.3.7), where the critical analytical components such as the injector and detector, along with the thermally isolated membranes, are embedded on the column microstructure to reduce dead volume and cold spots. Their design retains modularity (for easier customization to different compounds) in the preconcentrators and in the materials used for the detectors. 

Like Honeywell, Sandia s team is fabricating flow channels using deep reactive ion etching (DRIB) in silicon but, unlike Honeywell, they are also pursuing 

---